IT'S OL OVER NOW

Emery's Euro adventure comes to pitta end as early strike from Greeks seals Villa's fate

- NEIL MOXLEY

UNAI EMERY suffered a Greek tragedy as his dreams of ending Villa's trophy drought died.

The Spaniard was looking to finally plonk some silverware in a barren cabinet at Villa Park but the mountain his club had to climb proved beyond his injury-hit side.

Recovering from a two-goal deficit from the first leg in Birmingham was always going to be a tough ask - only three teams had done so in European history - but for a team hunting a Champions League place, optimism remained.

But it was dashed inside 10 minutes as Ayoub El Kaabi, their nemesis in the first leg, struck an early goal to leave them even further behind.

His second, 10 minutes from time, sparked a red-and-white party in the stands.

And despite a spirited effort - Villa undoubtedly left it all out there on the pitch in Piraeus it's now 28 long years and counting since Brian Little led his club to triumph in the League Cup.